On December 21 last year, a car drove through the intersection in the middle of Melbourne against a red light, hitting pedestrians like they were skittles.

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At least 18 people were injured – including a Northcote grandfather who later died in hospital, a family from South Korea on holidays, a father on the phone to his son as he left work and Tony Li, going home with his newly-minted certificate for an advanced diploma in translating tucked carefully away in his backpack.

Seven long months in hospital and for most of it, he felt alone. When his parents came from China to see him, they didn’t understand why he would choose to stay so far from home. Sometimes he wished he was dead, at other times he was scared of losing his life. “Am I dying alone in another country?” he thought.

Tony Li returns to Flinders Street.Credit:Justin McManus

A lot of the time he was angry.

“I could not find the right way to make me feel, to rest my anger. It doesn’t make any sense. We were doing the right thing,” he said.

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“I felt so angry, but I think this unbridled emotion is not a good emotion.”

Mr Li wanted to share some of what he’s been through so he was more than “just a Chinese student” among the injured.

He was discharged from a rehabilitation centre in late July and Mr Li, a permanent resident, is now pursuing Transport Accident Commission support.

He has engaged law firm Slater and Gordon to help him navigate the process.

“Tong has been through hell and back and it’s still not over for him as far as his recovery is concerned,” Slater and Gordon lawyer Marko Eric said.

“We will work to ensure that he has all the support he needs so that he can get his life back on track.”

The TAC has accepted 32 claims following the incident, providing payment for medical services, ambulances, travel expenses, income support and rehabilitation.

Emergency services tend to pedestrians outside of Flinders St Station who had been hit by a 4WD car. Credit: ABC News

It's a sunny day in Melbourne when Mr Li returns to the intersection of Flinders and Elizabeth streets. At every change of the lights, dozens of people walk across the intersection unafraid. Mr Li is there among them, wearing a Chicago Bulls basketball hoodie.

At first he's OK but he starts wincing at the sounds of the cars behind him and has to move to a quieter spot away from the intersection.

“Before the accident, I totally want to stay here without any hesitation. It’s safe, there are nice people, I am a Christian so I had many friends in the church. Since then ... I am not sure. Should I go back?” he said, sitting at an outdoor table a few hundreds metres from the intersection.